Search results for: Measurement of Market Orientation

Authors: H. Arabi, A.R. Kamali Asl

Abstract:

The purpose of this work is measurement of the system presampling MTF of a variable resolution x-ray (VRX) CT scanner. In this paper, we used the parameters of an actual VRX CT scanner for simulation and study of effect of different focal spot sizes on system presampling MTF by Monte Carlo method (GATE simulation software). Focal spot size of 0.6 mm limited the spatial resolution of the system to 5.5 cy/mm at incident angles of below 17º for cell#1. By focal spot size of 0.3 mm the spatial resolution increased up to 11 cy/mm and the limiting effect of focal spot size appeared at incident angles of below 9º. The focal spot size of 0.3 mm could improve the spatial resolution to some extent but because of magnification non-uniformity, there is a 10 cy/mm difference between spatial resolution of cell#1 and cell#256. The focal spot size of 0.1 mm acted as an ideal point source for this system. The spatial resolution increased to more than 35 cy/mm and at all incident angles the spatial resolution was a function of incident angle. By the way focal spot size of 0.1 mm minimized the effect of magnification nonuniformity.

Keywords: Focal spot, Spatial resolution, Monte Carlosimulation, Variable resolution x-ray (VRX) CT.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1506

Authors: Wei Lei, Hui Chen, Lin Lu

Abstract:

Microscopic emission and fuel consumption models have been widely recognized as an effective method to quantify real traffic emission and energy consumption when they are applied with microscopic traffic simulation models. This paper presents a framework for developing the Microscopic Emission (HC, CO, NOx, and CO2) and Fuel consumption (MEF) models for light-duty vehicles. The variable of composite acceleration is introduced into the MEF model with the purpose of capturing the effects of historical accelerations interacting with current speed on emission and fuel consumption. The MEF model is calibrated by multivariate least-squares method for two types of light-duty vehicle using on-board data collected in Beijing, China by a Portable Emission Measurement System (PEMS). The instantaneous validation results shows the MEF model performs better with lower Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) compared to other two models. Moreover, the aggregate validation results tells the MEF model produces reasonable estimations compared to actual measurements with prediction errors within 12%, 10%, 19%, and 9% for HC, CO, NOx emissions and fuel consumption, respectively.

Keywords: Emission, Fuel consumption, Light-duty vehicle, Microscopic, Modeling.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1972

Authors: Camelia Iuliana Lungu, Chirața Caraiani, Cornelia Dascălu

Abstract:

The business strategy of any company wanting to be competitive on the market should be designed around the concept of intangibles, with an increasingly decisive role in knowledge transfer of the biggest corporations. Advancing the research in these areas, this study integrates the two approaches, emphasizing the relationships between the components of intellectual capital and corporate social responsibility. The three dimensions of intellectual capital in terms of sustainability requirements are debated. The paper introduces the concept of sustainable intellectual capital and debates it within an assessment model designed on the base of key performance indicators. The results refer to the assessment of possible ways for including the information on intellectual capital and corporate responsibility within the corporate strategy. The conclusions enhance the need for companies to be ready to support the integration of this type of information the knowledge transfer process, in order to develop competitive advantage on the market.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, corporate strategy, intellectual capital, sustainability

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2656

Authors: Jehad Al Dallal

Abstract:

Class cohesion is a key object-oriented software quality attribute that is used to evaluate the degree of relatedness of class attributes and methods. Researchers have proposed several class cohesion measures. However, the effect of considering the special methods (i.e., constructors, destructors, and access and delegation methods) in cohesion calculation is not thoroughly theoretically studied for most of them. In this paper, we address this issue for three popular connectivity-based class cohesion measures. For each of the considered measures we theoretically study the impact of including or excluding special methods on the values that are obtained by applying the measure. This study is based on analyzing the definitions and formulas that are proposed for the measures. The results show that including/excluding special methods has a considerable effect on the obtained cohesion values and that this effect varies from one measure to another. For each of the three connectivity-based measures, the proposed theoretical study recommended excluding the special methods in cohesion measurement.

Keywords: Object-oriented class, software quality, class cohesion measure, class cohesion, special methods.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1680

Authors: Chih-Hsiang Chang, Pei-Shan Kao

Abstract:

This paper discusses the reaction of investors in the Taiwan stock market to the most probable unknown earnings-related information and the most probable known earnings-related information. As compared with the previous literature regarding the effect of an official announcement of earnings forecast revision, this paper further analyzes investors’ cognitive bias toward the unknown and known earnings-related information, and the role of media during the investors' reactions to the foresaid information shocks. The empirical results show that both the unknown and known earnings-related information provides useful information content for a stock market. In addition, cognitive bias and disposition effect are the behavioral pitfalls that commonly occur in the process of the investors' reactions to the earnings-related information. Finally, media coverage has a remarkable influence upon the investors' trading decisions.

Keywords: Cognitive bias, role of media, disposition effect, earnings-related information, behavioral pitfall.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 856

Authors: A. Shebani, S. Iwnicki

Abstract:

Understanding the nature of wheel and rail wear in the railway field is of fundamental importance to the safe and cost effective operation of the railways. Twin disc wear testing is used extensively for studying wear of wheel and rail materials. The University of Huddersfield twin disc rig was used in this paper to examine the effect of surface conditions on wheel and rail wear measurement under a range of wheel/rail contact conditions, with and without contaminants. This work focuses on an investigation of the effect of dry, wet, and lubricated conditions and the effect of contaminants such as sand on wheel and rail wear. The wheel and rail wear measurements were carried out by using a replica material and an optical profilometer that allows measurement of wear in difficult location with high accuracy. The results have demonstrated the rate at which both water and oil reduce wheel and rail wear. Scratches and other damage were seen on the wheel and rail surfaces after the addition of sand and consequently both wheel and rail wear damage rates increased under these conditions. This work introduced the replica material and an optical instrument as effective tools to study the effect of surface conditions on wheel and rail wear.

Keywords: Railway wheel/rail wear, surface conditions, twin disc test rig, replica material, Alicona profilometer.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1181

Authors: Dixit Garg, S. Luthra, A. Haleem

Abstract:

During recent years, the natural environment has become a challenging topic that business organizations must consider due to the economic and ecological impacts and increasing awareness of environment protection among society. Organizations are trying to achieve the goals of improvement in environment, low cost, high quality, flexibility and more customer satisfaction. Performance measurement frameworks are very useful to monitor the performance of any organization. The basic goal of this paper is to identify performance measures and ranking of these performance measures of GSCM performance measurement towards sustainability framework. Five perspectives (Environment, Economic, Social, Operational and Cost performances) and nineteen performance measures of GSCM performance towards sustainability have been have been identified from extensive literature review. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique has been utilized for ranking of these performance perspectives and measures. All pair comparisons in AHP have been made on the basis on the experts’ opinions (selected from academia and industry). Ranking of these performance perspectives and measures will help to understand the importance of environmental, economic, social, operational performances and cost performances in the supply chain.

Keywords: Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Green Supply Chain Management, Performance Measures (PM), Sustainability.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3220

Authors: Ling Zheng, Yaping Wei, Kang Cao, Songpo Shi, Jinxing Wang

Abstract:

It-s difficult for China-s current land transfer institutions limited to county-wide to solve the contradiction between urban-rural development and construction land shortage. On the basis of analyzing China-s construction land transfer system, and evaluation toward Transfer of development rights (TDR) practices in Anhui and Chongqing, the passage proposes: (1) we should establish a multi-level land indicators trade market under the guidance of regional spatial objectives, and allow land transfer paid across cities and counties within a specific area following the regulation of both government and market; (2) it would be better to combine organically the policy ntentions of land plan, regional plan, urban plan and economic plan, and link them with land indicators transfer to promote a wider range of urban-rural balance and regional coordination.

Keywords: China's land institutions, transfer of development rights, urban-rural balance, regional coordination.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1650

Authors: Jamaiah H. Yahaya, Aziz Deraman, Abdul Razak Hamdan, Yusmadi Yah Jusoh

Abstract:

One of the most essential issues in software products is to maintain it relevancy to the dynamics of the user’s requirements and expectation. Many studies have been carried out in quality aspect of software products to overcome these problems. Previous software quality assessment models and metrics have been introduced with strengths and limitations. In order to enhance the assurance and buoyancy of the software products, certification models have been introduced and developed. From our previous experiences in certification exercises and case studies collaborating with several agencies in Malaysia, the requirements for user based software certification approach is identified and demanded. The emergence of social network applications, the new development approach such as agile method and other varieties of software in the market have led to the domination of users over the software. As software become more accessible to the public through internet applications, users are becoming more critical in the quality of the services provided by the software. There are several categories of users in web-based systems with different interests and perspectives. The classifications and metrics are identified through brain storming approach with includes researchers, users and experts in this area. The new paradigm in software quality assessment is the main focus in our research. This paper discusses the classifications of users in web-based software system assessment and their associated factors and metrics for quality measurement. The quality model is derived based on IEEE structure and FCM model. The developments are beneficial and valuable to overcome the constraints and improve the application of software certification model in future.

Keywords: Software certification model, user centric approach, software quality factors, metrics and measurements, web-based system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2122

Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho

Abstract:

Detection of incipient abnormal events is important to improve safety and reliability of machine operations and reduce losses caused by failures. Improper set-ups or aligning of parts often leads to severe problems in many machines. The construction of prediction models for predicting faulty conditions is quite essential in making decisions on when to perform machine maintenance. This paper presents a multivariate calibration monitoring approach based on the statistical analysis of machine measurement data. The calibration model is used to predict two faulty conditions from historical reference data. This approach utilizes genetic algorithms (GA) based variable selection, and we evaluate the predictive performance of several prediction methods using real data. The results shows that the calibration model based on supervised probabilistic principal component analysis (SPPCA) yielded best performance in this work. By adopting a proper variable selection scheme in calibration models, the prediction performance can be improved by excluding non-informative variables from their model building steps.

Keywords: Prediction, operation monitoring, on-line data, nonlinear statistical methods, empirical model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1640

Authors: Giani Gradinaru

Abstract:

Biodiversity crisis is one of the many crises that started at the turn of the millennia. Concrete form of expression is still disputed, but there is a relatively high consensus regarding the high rate of degradation and the urgent need for action. The strategy of action outlines a strong economic component, together with the recognition of market mechanisms as the most effective policies to protect biodiversity. In this context, biodiversity and ecosystem services are natural assets that play a key role in economic strategies and technological development to promote development and prosperity. Developing and strengthening policies for transition to an economy based on efficient use of resources is the way forward. To emphasize the co-viability specific to the connection economyecosystem services, scientific approach aimed on one hand how to implement policies for nature conservation and on the other hand, the concepts underlying the economic expression of ecosystem services- value, in the context of current technology. Following the analysis of business opportunities associated with changes in ecosystem services was concluded that development of market mechanisms for nature conservation is a trend that is increasingly stronger individualized within recent years. Although there are still many controversial issues that have already given rise to an obvious bias, international organizations and national governments have initiated and implemented in cooperation or independently such mechanisms. Consequently, they created the conditions for convergence between private interests and social interests of nature conservation, so there are opportunities for ongoing business development which leads, among other things, the positive effects on biodiversity. Finally, points out that markets fail to quantify the value of most ecosystem services. Existing price signals reflect at best, only a proportion of the total amount corresponding provision of food, water or fuel.

Keywords: ecosystem services, economic evaluation, nature conservation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1534

Authors: Maléne Maria Magdalena Campbell, Jeremiah Mholo

Abstract:

Low-income households earning less than 3,500 ZAR (about 175 GBP) per month can apply to the South African government, through the National Housing Subsidy, for fully subsidised houses. An objective of this subsidy is to enable low-income households’ participation in the formal housing market; however, the beneficiaries received houses without title deeds. As such, if the beneficiaries did not have a secured tenure at the time of their death then surviving family may face possible eviction. Therefore, an aim of this research was to determine how these beneficiaries interpret tenure security. The research focused on government subsidised housing in the Dithlake settlement of a rural hamlet named Koffiefontein, in the Letsemeng Local Municipality of South Africa. Quantitative data on the beneficiaries were collected from the local municipality, while qualitative data were collected from a sample of 45 beneficiaries.

Keywords: Low-income families, subsidised housing, titling, housing market, South Africa.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1339

Authors: Saman Ghaffarian, Ilgın Gökasar

Abstract:

This paper presents a new automatic vehicle detection method from very high resolution aerial images to measure traffic density. The proposed method starts by extracting road regions from image using road vector data. Then, the road image is divided into equal sections considering resolution of the images. Gradient vectors of the road image are computed from edge map of the corresponding image. Gradient vectors on the each boundary of the sections are divided where the gradient vectors significantly change their directions. Finally, number of vehicles in each section is carried out by calculating the standard deviation of the gradient vectors in each group and accepting the group as vehicle that has standard deviation above predefined threshold value. The proposed method was tested in four very high resolution aerial images acquired from Istanbul, Turkey which illustrate roads and vehicles with diverse characteristics. The results show the reliability of the proposed method in detecting vehicles by producing 86% overall F1 accuracy value.

Keywords: Aerial images, intelligent transportation systems, traffic density measurement, vehicle detection.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2913

Authors: Hankun Lin, Yiqiang Xiao, Qiaosheng Zhan

Abstract:

Shading devices (SDs) are widely used in buildings in the hot-humid climate areas for reducing cooling energy consumption for interior temperature, as the result of reducing the solar radiation directly. Contrasting the surface temperature of materials of SDs to the glass on the building façade could give more analysis for the shading effect. On the other side, SDs are much more used as the independence system on building façade in hot-humid area. This typical construction could have some impacts on building ventilation as well. This paper discusses the outdoor SDs’ effects on the building thermal environment and ventilation, through a set of measurements on a 2-floors office building in Guangzhou, China, which install a dynamic aluminum SD-system around the façade on 2^nd-floor. The measurements recorded the in/outdoor temperature, relative humidity, velocity, and the surface temperature of the aluminum panel and the glaze. After that, a CFD simulation was conducted for deeper discussion of ventilation. In conclusion, this paper reveals the temperature differences on the different material of the façade, and finds that the velocity of indoor environment could be reduced by the outdoor SDs.

Keywords: Outdoor shading devices, hot-humid area, temperature, ventilation, measurement, CFD.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 993

Authors: Corneliu Sofronie, Roxana Zubcov

Abstract:

Cognitive Science appeared about 40 years ago, subsequent to the challenge of the Artificial Intelligence, as common territory for several scientific disciplines such as: IT, mathematics, psychology, neurology, philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. The new born science was justified by the complexity of the problems related to the human knowledge on one hand, and on the other by the fact that none of the above mentioned sciences could explain alone the mental phenomena. Based on the data supplied by the experimental sciences such as psychology or neurology, models of the human mind operation are built in the cognition science. These models are implemented in computer programs and/or electronic circuits (specific to the artificial intelligence) – cognitive systems – whose competences and performances are compared to the human ones, leading to the psychology and neurology data reinterpretation, respectively to the construction of new models. During these processes if psychology provides the experimental basis, philosophy and mathematics provides the abstraction level utterly necessary for the intermission of the mentioned sciences. The ongoing general problematic of the cognitive approach provides two important types of approach: the computational one, starting from the idea that the mental phenomenon can be reduced to 1 and 0 type calculus operations, and the connection one that considers the thinking products as being a result of the interaction between all the composing (included) systems. In the field of psychology measurements in the computational register use classical inquiries and psychometrical tests, generally based on calculus methods. Deeming things from both sides that are representing the cognitive science, we can notice a gap in psychological product measurement possibilities, regarded from the connectionist perspective, that requires the unitary understanding of the quality – quantity whole. In such approach measurement by calculus proves to be inefficient. Our researches, deployed for longer than 20 years, lead to the conclusion that measuring by forms properly fits to the connectionism laws and principles.

Keywords: complementary methodology, connection approach, networks without scaling, quantum psychology.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3603

Authors: A. Banovcinova, M. Zakova

Abstract:

Labor market activity and paid employment should be a key factor in protecting individuals and families from falling into poverty and providing them with sufficient resources to meet the needs of their members. However, due to various processes in the labor market as well as the influence of individual factors and often insufficient social capital, there is a relatively large group of households that cannot eliminate paid employment and find themselves in a state of so-called working poverty. The aim of the research was to find out what strategies families use in managing poverty and meeting their needs and which of these strategies prevail in the Slovak population. A quantitative research strategy was chosen. The method of data collection was a structured interview focused on finding out the use of individual management strategies and also selected demographic indicators. The research sample consisted of members of families in which at least one member has a paid job. The condition for inclusion in the research was that the family's income did not exceed 60% of the national median equalized disposable income. The analysis of the results showed 5 basic areas to which management strategies are related - work, financial security, needs, social contacts and perception of the current situation. The prevailing strategies were strategies aimed at increasing and streamlining labor market activity and the planned and effective management of the family budget. Strategies that were rejected were mainly related to debt creation. The results make it possible to identify the preferred ways of managing poverty in individual areas of life, as well as the factors that influence this behavior. This information is important for working with families living in a state of working poverty and can help professionals develop positive ways of coping for families.

Keywords: Copying strategies, family, in-work poverty, quantitative research.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 572

Authors: M. A. Rashed, A. S. Mansour, H. Faris, W. Afify

Abstract:

The calcarenites carbonate rocks of the Quaternary ridges, which extend along the northwestern Mediterranean coastal plain of Egypt, represent an excellent model for the transformation of loose sediments to real sedimentary rocks by the different stages of meteoric diagenesis. The depositional and diagenetic fabrics of the rocks, in addition to the strata orientation, highly affect their ultimate compressive strength and other geotechnical properties.

There is a marked increase in the compressive strength (UCS) from the first to the fourth ridge rock samples. The lowest values are related to the loose packing, weakly cemented aragonitic ooid sediments with high porosity, besides the irregularly distributed of cement, which result in decreasing the ability of these rocks to withstand crushing under direct pressure. The high (UCS) values are attributed to the low porosity, the presence of micritic cement, the reduction in grain size and the occurrence of micritization and calcretization processes.

The strata orientation has a notable effect on the measured (UCS). The lowest values have been recorded for the samples cored in the inclined direction; whereas the highest values have been noticed in most samples cored in the vertical and parallel directions to bedding plane. In case of the inclined direction, the bedding planes were oriented close to the plane of maximum shear stress. The lowest and highest anisotropy values have been recorded for the first and the third ridges rock samples, respectively, which may attributed to the relatively homogeneity and well sorted grainstone of the first ridge rock samples, and relatively heterogeneity in grain and pore size distribution and degree of cementation of the third ridge rock samples, besides, the abundance of shell fragments with intraparticle pore spaces, which may produce lines of weakness within the rock.

Keywords: Compressive strength, Anisotropy, Calcarenites, Egypt.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4102

Authors: Hala S. Mekawy

Abstract:

Affordable housing delivery for low and lower middle income families is a prominent problem in many developing countries; governments alone are unable to address this challenge due to diverse financial and regulatory constraints, and the private sector's contribution is rare and assists only middle-income households even when institutional and legal reforms are conducted to persuade it to go down market. Also, the market-enabling policy measures advocated by the World Bank since the early nineties have been strongly criticized and proven to be inappropriate to developing country contexts, where it is highly unlikely that the formal private sector can reach low income population. In addition to governments and private developers, affordable housing delivery systems involve an intricate network of relationships between a diverse range of actors. Collaboration between them was proven to be vital, and hence, an approach towards partnership schemes for affordable housing delivery has emerged. The basic premise of this paper is that addressing housing affordability challenges in Egypt demands direct public support, as markets and market actors alone would never succeed in delivering decent affordable housing to low and lower middle income groups. It argues that this support would ideally be through local level partnership schemes, with a leading decentralized local government role, and partners being identified according to specific local conditions. It attempts to identify major attributes that would ensure the fulfillment of the goals of such schemes in the Egyptian context. This is based upon evidence from diversified worldwide experiences, in addition to the main outcomes of a questionnaire that was conducted to specialists and chief actors in the field.

Keywords: Affordable housing, partnership schemes.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2757

Authors: Jianhua Zhou, Yuwen Zhang

Abstract:

A two-step multigrid approach is proposed to solve the inverse heat conduction problem in a 3-D object under laser irradiation. In the first step, the location of the laser center is estimated using a coarse and uniform grid system. In the second step, the front-surface temperature is recovered in good accuracy using a multiple grid system in which fine mesh is used at laser spot center to capture the drastic temperature rise in this region but coarse mesh is employed in the peripheral region to reduce the total number of sensors required. The effectiveness of the two-step approach and the multiple grid system are demonstrated by the illustrative inverse solutions. If the measurement data for the temperature and heat flux on the back surface do not contain random error, the proposed multigrid approach can yield more accurate inverse solutions. When the back-surface measurement data contain random noise, accurate inverse solutions cannot be obtained if both temperature and heat flux are measured on the back surface.

Keywords: Conduction, inverse problems, conjugated gradient method, laser.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 814

Authors: H. Anıl, G. Kar

Abstract:

In addition to being rich in renewable energy resources, Turkey is one of the countries that promise potential in geothermal energy production with its high installed power, cheapness, and sustainability. Increasing imbalance penalties become an economic burden for organizations, since the geothermal generation plants cannot maintain the balance of supply and demand due to the inadequacy of the production forecasts given in the day-ahead market. A better production forecast reduces the imbalance penalties of market participants and provides a better imbalance in the day ahead market. In this study, using machine learning, deep learning and time series methods, the total generation of the power plants belonging to Zorlu Doğal Electricity Generation, which has a high installed capacity in terms of geothermal, was predicted for the first one-week and first two-weeks of March, then the imbalance penalties were calculated with these estimates and compared with the real values. These modeling operations were carried out on two datasets, the basic dataset and the dataset created by extracting new features from this dataset with the feature engineering method. According to the results, Support Vector Regression from traditional machine learning models outperformed other models and exhibited the best performance. In addition, the estimation results in the feature engineering dataset showed lower error rates than the basic dataset. It has been concluded that the estimated imbalance penalty calculated for the selected organization is lower than the actual imbalance penalty, optimum and profitable accounts.

Keywords: Machine learning, deep learning, time series models, feature engineering, geothermal energy production forecasting.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 166

Authors: Bita Mashayekhi, Azadeh Maddahi, Arash Tahriri

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is developing a model for audit quality, with regard to the contextual and environmental attributes of the audit profession in Iran. For this purpose, using an exploratory approach, and because of the special attributes of the auditing profession in Iran in terms of the legal environment, regulatory and supervisory mechanisms, audit firms size, and etc., we used grounded theory approach as a qualitative research method. Therefore, we got the opinions of the experts in the auditing and capital market areas through unstructured interviews. As a result, the authors revealed the determinants of audit quality, and by using these determinants, developed an Integrated Audit Quality Model, including causal conditions, intervening conditions, context, as well as action strategies related to AQ and their consequences. In this research, audit quality is studied using a systemic approach. According to this approach, the quality of inputs, processes, and outputs of auditing determines the quality of auditing, therefore, the quality of all different parts of this system is considered.

Keywords: Audit quality, integrated audit quality model, audit supply, demand for audit service, grounded theory.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1262

Authors: Lina Salim

Abstract:

Modern retailers such as hypermarket/supermarket need to be more customer-oriented in order to survive in today-s competitive business world. As a result, the investigation of determinant factors of store loyalty becomes important issue for modern retailing players. This study suggests that consumers- store loyalty in the modern retailing market (hypermarkets and supermarkets) is influenced by environmental factors (such as store image, store personnel). Using a model of stimulus-organismresponse (S-O-R), this research examines S-R relationship of store loyalty. S-O-R framework is derived from the existence literature and tested empirically based on Indonesian consumers- experience. The stimuli for this study are store image, store personnel, satisfaction and culture factors. Affect, or the consumers- liking to modern retailing stores, mediates the chosen environmental factors on consumer-s store loyalty. The findings showed that store image, store satisfaction and culture have significant positive relationship to store loyalty via affect.

Keywords: Affect, Culture, Store Image, Store Loyalty, StorePersonnel, Store Satisfaction

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2480

Authors: Piotr Prewysz-Kwinto

Abstract:

A dynamic development of financial market is accompanied by the emergence of new products on stock exchanges which give absolutely new possibilities of investing money. Currently, the most innovative financial instruments offered to investors are exchange traded products (ETP). They can be defined as financial instruments whose price depends on the value of the underlying instrument. Thus, they offer investors a possibility of making a profit that results from the change in value of the underlying instrument without having to buy it. Currently, the Warsaw Stock Exchange offers many types of ETPs. They are investment products with full or partial capital protection, products without capital protection as well as leverage products, issued on such underlying instruments as indices, sector indices, commodity indices, prices of energy commodities, precious metals, agricultural produce or prices of shares of domestic and foreign companies. This paper presents the mechanism of functioning of ETP available on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the results of the analysis of statistical data on these financial instruments.

Keywords: Exchange traded products, financial market, investment, stock exchange.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1154

Authors: Münevver Başman, Ezel Tavşancıl

Abstract:

Making the right decisions about students depends on teachers’ use of the assessment and evaluation techniques effectively. In order to do that, teachers should have positive attitudes and adequate self-efficacy perception towards assessment and evaluation. The purpose of this study is to investigate relationship between self-efficacy perception and the attitudes of prospective teachers towards assessment and evaluation and what kind of differences these issues have in terms of a variety of demographic variables. The study group consisted of 277 prospective teachers who have been studying in different departments of Marmara University, Faculty of Education. In this study, ‘Personal Information Form’, ‘A Perceptual Scale for Measurement and Evaluation of Prospective Teachers Self-Efficacy in Education’ and ‘Attitudes toward Educational Measurement Inventory’ are applied. As a result, positive correlation was found between self-efficacy perceptions and the attitudes of prospective teachers towards assessment and evaluation. Considering different departments, there is a significant difference between the mean score of attitudes of prospective teachers and between the mean score of self-efficacy perceptions of them. However, considering variables of attending statistics class and the class types at the graduated high school, there is no significant difference between the mean score of attitudes of prospective teachers and between the mean score of self-efficacy perceptions of them.

Keywords: Attitude, perception, prospective teacher, self-efficacy.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1539

Authors: Maziyar Nouraee

Abstract:

Electronic markets in recent decades contribute remarkably in business transactions. Many organizations consider traditional ways of trade non-economical and therefore they do trade only through electronic markets. There are different categorizations of electronic markets functions. In one classification, functions of electronic markets are categorized into classes as information, transactions, and value added. In the present paper, effects of the three classes on the two major elements of the supply chain management are measured. The two elements are decrease in the product unit cost and reduction in response time to the customer. The results of the current research show that among nine minor elements related to the three classes of electronic markets functions, six factors and three factors influence on reduction of the product unit cost and reduction of response time to the customer, respectively.

Keywords: Electronic Commerce, Electronic Market, B2B Trade, Supply Chain Management.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1987

Authors: Vasco A. P. Cadavez, Fernando C. Monteiro

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to develop and compare alternative prediction equations of lean meat proportion (LMP) of lamb carcasses. Forty (40) male lambs, 22 of Churra Galega Bragançana Portuguese local breed and 18 of Suffolk breed were used. Lambs were slaughtered, and carcasses weighed approximately 30 min later in order to obtain hot carcass weight (HCW). After cooling at 4º C for 24-h a set of seventeen carcass measurements was recorded. The left side of carcasses was dissected into muscle, subcutaneous fat, inter-muscular fat, bone, and remainder (major blood vessels, ligaments, tendons, and thick connective tissue sheets associated with muscles), and the LMP was evaluated as the dissected muscle percentage. Prediction equations of LMP were developed, and fitting quality was evaluated through the coefficient of determination of estimation (R2 e) and standard error of estimate (SEE). Models validation was performed by k-fold crossvalidation and the coefficient of determination of prediction (R2 p) and standard error of prediction (SEP) were computed. The BT2 measurement was the best single predictor and accounted for 37.8% of the LMP variation with a SEP of 2.30%. The prediction of LMP of lamb carcasses can be based simple models, using as predictors the HCW and one fat thickness measurement.

Keywords: Bootstrap, Carcass, Lambs, Lean meat

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1598

Authors: Daniel F. Garcia, Julio Molleda, Francisco Gonzalez, Ruben Usamentiaga

Abstract:

The development of many measurement and inspection systems of products based on real-time image processing can not be carried out totally in a laboratory due to the size or the temperature of the manufactured products. Those systems must be developed in successive phases. Firstly, the system is installed in the production line with only an operational service to acquire images of the products and other complementary signals. Next, a recording service of the image and signals must be developed and integrated in the system. Only after a large set of images of products is available, the development of the real-time image processing algorithms for measurement or inspection of the products can be accomplished under realistic conditions. Finally, the recording service is turned off or eliminated and the system operates only with the real-time services for the acquisition and processing of the images. This article presents a systematic performance evaluation of the image compression algorithms currently available to implement a real-time recording service. The results allow establishing a trade off between the reduction or compression of the image size and the CPU time required to get that compression level.

Keywords: Lossless image compression, codec performanceevaluation, grayscale codec comparison, real-time image recording.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1397

Authors: Mohammad Irfan

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship among the key macroeconomic variables and Islamic stock market in India. This study is based on the time series data of financial years 2009-2015 to explore the consistency of relationship between macroeconomic variables and Shariah Indices. The ADF (Augmented Dickey–Fuller Test Statistic) and PP (Phillips–Perron Test Statistic) tests are employed to check stationarity of the data. The study depicts the long run relationship between Shariah indices and macroeconomic variables by using the Johansen Co-integration test. BSE Shariah and Nifty Shariah have uni-direct Granger causality. The outcome of VECM is significantly confirming the applicability of best fitted model. Thus, Islamic stock indices are proficiently working for the development of Indian economy. It suggests that by keeping eyes on Islamic stock market which will be more interactive in the future with other macroeconomic variables.

Keywords: Indian shariah indices, macroeconomic variables, co-integration, Granger causality, Vector error correction model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1186

Authors: Ankush Agrawal, Nadia Bhuiyan

Abstract:

The new product development (NPD) literature emphasizes the importance of introducing new products on the market for continuing business success. New products are responsible for employment, economic growth, technological progress, and high standards of living. Therefore, the study of NPD and the processes through which they emerge is important. The goal of our research is to propose a framework of critical success factors, metrics, and tools and techniques for implementing metrics for each stage of the new product development (NPD) process. An extensive literature review was undertaken to investigate decades of studies on NPD success and how it can be achieved. These studies were scanned for common factors for firms that enjoyed success of new products on the market. The paper summarizes NPD success factors, suggests metrics that should be used to measure these factors, and proposes tools and techniques to make use of these metrics. This was done for each stage of the NPD process, and brought together in a framework that the authors propose should be followed for complex NPD projects. While many studies have been conducted on critical success factors for NPD, these studies tend to be fragmented and focus on one or a few phases of the NPD process. 

Keywords: New product development, performance, critical success factors, framework.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2411

Authors: Kuryati Kipli, Kasumawati Lias, Dayang Azra Awang Mat, Al-Khalid Othman, Ade Syaheda Wani Marzuki, Nurdiani Zamhari

Abstract:

Visual attention allows user to select the most relevant information to ongoing behaviour. This paper presents a study on; i) the performance of people measurements, ii) accurateness of people measurement of the peaks that correspond to chemical quantities from the Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) graphs and iii) affects of people measurements to the algorithm-based diagnosis. Participant-s eye-movement was recorded using eye-tracker tool (Eyelink II). This experiment involves three participants for examining 20 MRS graphs to estimate the peaks of chemical quantities which indicate the abnormalities associated with Cerebellar Tumours (CT). The status of each MRS is verified by using decision algorithm. Analysis involves determination of humans-s eye movement pattern in measuring the peak of spectrograms, scan path and determining the relationship of distributions of fixation durations with the accuracy of measurement. In particular, the eye-tracking data revealed which aspects of the spectrogram received more visual attention and in what order they were viewed. This preliminary investigation provides a proof of concept for use of the eye tracking technology as the basis for expanded CT diagnosis.

Keywords: eye tracking, fixation durations, pattern, scan paths, spectrograms, visual.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1407